Now that Skydio is out of the consumer drone business and will never sell me the self-flying mini drone I’ve always dreamed of, I’m looking at DJI instead. Fancy marketing for what was just announced $759 DJI Mini 4 Pro It indicates that we’re on the road at least – because it’s the first Mini with omni-directional obstacle sensing.
The 2022 Mini 3 Pro can already see front, back and bottom, but… We hit a tree very quickly. Binocular vision in every direction is a potentially big upgrade if it works well, and its smaller wingspan compared to the air could also help it fit between trees and/or branches.
I can’t guarantee tree dodging yet, but Vjeran now has one to test:
In many ways, the Mini 4 Pro pretty much brought the Mini 3 Pro on par with the larger, more expensive $1,099 DJI Air 3. It already had a similar main camera (1/1.3-inch, 48-megapixel, f/ 1.7 with 82 MP). – Similar field-of-view (FOV) score and battery life of over 40 minutes, but now adds omni-directional obstacle avoidance, 4K 100fps shooting (and 200fps shooting at 1080p), and Ocusync 4 video transmission for a 20km (high) range than 12 km) already provided by Air.
As with the Mini 3 Pro, you can expect a solid half-hour battery life from the included battery or roughly 40 minutes with the larger ‘Intelligent Flight Battery Plus’, although the latter isn’t being sold in Europe this time around as it costs more Weight about it. Allowed 249 grams. And while DJI also advertises “True Vertical Shooting” as a big selling point for the Mini 4 Pro, the Mini 3 Pro (and the $469 Mini 3) already has it.
The Mini 3 is also DJI’s affordable battery champion with an additional four to six minutes to charge the battery, depending on which battery you insert.
Still look at the Air or better if you need more speed, as it climbs and descends twice as fast as the Mini’s five meters per second. (The Air is only 25 percent faster on straight lines.) And of course, the Air has a second 70mm-equivalent f/2.8 telephoto camera for even more flexibility.
If you have a Mini 3 Pro or are stocking up on accessories, you’ll be happy to hear that the Mini 4 Pro uses the same batteries — but needs a new controller due to the upgraded Ocusync 4 video transmission.
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